Speaking to The Athletic, Declan Rice said: "Mikel Arteta will ask us to break things down, like in terms of our pressing and where we should go: 'If that person drops, who goes there?'. Sometimes you feel a little bit on the spot!
"But my main thing [around adaptation] was in pre-season when I'd obviously just got there and was trying to gain fitness. We played against Manchester United and I didn't have the best of games. I wasn't really that fit.
"That was when we really tried to play our game model and you could just see I was way out of depth. I didn't really understand anything that was going on. There were some good moments when I was trying to learn it.
"But there were also some moments where you could see I needed to improve. After that, I watched a lot of videos and then on the training field tried to really improve. I think that game was a real catalyst to helping me out."
In the end, it took Rice almost no time at all to settle into life at Arsenal and establish himself as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
The 25-year-old is shining under Arteta's guidance, spearheading the Gunners' effort to battle Manchester City for the 2023/24 title.
